The SEC charged a San Francisco hedge fund manager with defrauding investors by dramatically overstating the fund's profitability and misusing fund assets. The Commission alleges that Alexander James Trabulse sent account statements to investors in his Fahey Fund that inflated the fund's returns by as much as 200 percent, while using investor money to purchase cars and finance shopping sprees for his family members. According to the Commission's complaint, filed today in federal district court in San Francisco, Trabulse founded the Fahey Fund in 1997 and raised about $10 million from approximately 100 investors. He told investors the fund invested in financial instruments like stocks, derivatives, and foreign currency. The complaint alleges that Trabulse lured investors by touting the fund's spectacular performance, when in reality the statements he provided to investors bore no relation to the fund's actual performance.

The Commission also alleges Trabulse misused fund assets to pay for a wide variety of personal expenses, using the fund's bank account to pay for cars, a home theater system, and his ex-wife's overseas shopping allowance. He even gave one relative free reign to use the fund's bank accounts for personal use, according to the Commission.

The Commission's complaint alleges Trabulse violated the antifraud and registration provisions of the federal securities laws, and seeks disgorgement, penalties, and other relief. The Commission also has named as relief defendants several entities associated with Trabulse that received assets through Trabulse's fraud.